Last night, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has called Malaysians to embrace the English Language
He spoke at Sultan Abdul Hamid Old Collegians Association (Sahoca) alumni dinner ceremony, quipping that English is for everyone and not just the “England” (English) speaking community.
This comes after NST recently reported that Malaysia was steadily falling behind in 2018 English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) for non-native English speaking countries.
Dr M elaborated that the English language is a universal one as well as the language of knowledge,
“It does not make you less Malay or Malaysian if you speak English. To acquire knowledge, you must learn the English language.”
“You need to master the English language everywhere you go as the language is useful.”
“In subjects like science and mathematics, they are in English.”
“You will impress the world if you know how to speak or have a good command of English.”
Source: NST
Dr M went on to discuss revamping the nation’s curriculum plan for schools to be more dynamic to better prepare students for the real world.
However, he mentioned that religious subjects will remain albeit with some changes,
“It will not be a whole day period of the (religious subjects) learning session as we do not want students to only know how to recite prayers but lack knowledge in other subjects.”
“This means we should provide good education for them and they will graduate with a lot of knowledge in hand after they finish school, rather than become an individual full of drama.”
We definitely feel that our country can benefit from less drama after going through 2018! But for now, let’s work on making our English more pow-derful shall we?
Also read: “Malaysian Students Have Poor English Because They’re Not Interested in Learning”
